11 Facts About Tamara Ivanyutina

Tamara Antonovna Ivanyutina was a Soviet serial killer who used the extremely toxic poison thallium in her killings.

Tamara Ivanyutina was the target of a wide-scale investigation in Kyiv during the 1980s.

Chemistry teacher Viktor Stadnik, who suffered from Tamara Ivanyutina's actions, noted such traits of her character as "perseverance and arrogance", as well as rudeness and lack of discipline.

Tamara Ivanyutina was arrested and initially wrote a confession, confessing to the poisoning in the school canteen on 16 March 1987.

The reason for the crime, according to Tamara Ivanyutina, was that the sixth graders who dined in the dining room refused to set up tables and chairs, and "she decided to punish them".

At the beginning of her criminal activities, Tamara Ivanyutina poisoned her first husband to get his apartment.

In September 1986, Tamara Ivanyutina got a job as a dishwasher for the school.

The trial lasted about a year, Tamara Ivanyutina did not admit her guilt and refused to apologise to the victims' families.

Tamara Ivanyutina's accomplices were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment: Nina was sentenced to 15 years and their parents to 10 and 13 years, both dying in custody.

Tamara Ivanyutina tried to bribe an investigator, promising him "a lot of gold".

Tamara Ivanyutina's case is still included in Ukraine's training materials for criminal procedures.